An Aside: The First Milestone

Well, dear readers, it is one month today since I started this blog. I had doubts aplenty; would I find enough time to write regularly? Would I suffer writer’s block? Would anyone read it?

If you’ll forgive me a moment of self-congratulation, I couldn’t have wished for a better start. I’ve been pleased enough with my writing, but more than anything I’ve been extremely encouraged by the response. After all, a blog is supposed to be interactive. Thanks to a few plugs from some good friends and fellow bloggers, I had some good early traffic and the number of visitors, while still modest compared to the big hitters, has been steadily increasing week by week.

The comments, bar the odd one, have been excellent. I’ve had some generous praise and some stern criticism, both of which have inspired some very lively and productive debates.

I was also encouraged to find my submissions to the Carnival of the Godless and the Carnival of the Liberals accepted, which have helped the site gain some exposure.

Far from running out of ideas for topics to write about, I have more things to write about than time with which to write them.

Finally, this week, I have also proudly joined Planet Atheism and the Atheist Blogroll, to both of which I hope I can be a valuable addition, and draw more readers directly to this blog.

Some people may write a blog for purely cathartic reasons. That’s fair enough, but I had the explicit intention of reaching people with my ideas, and then gaining feedback with which to improve them. So far I feel I’ve achieved that. A very, very sincere thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, readers and commenters alike.

Despite my relief, the last thing I want to do is be complacent. The blog has taken up a lot of time and work, and I intend to sustain that. Above all, it has been thoroughly enjoyable and exhilarating. I urge anyone considering a blog but trapped in indecision to take a leap of faith (as it were), my only regret is not doing it sooner.

The first month closes. Here’s to many more.